Whether it’s a short road trip or an 18-hour flight, our phones are now essential travel companions. No longer do we need a GPS unit, maps, cameras, camcorders, or even boarding passes. However, not all phones are created equal in this regard. Some are more suited for traveling, no matter the duration.
LG V40 ThinQ
While easily the most unpopular phone on our list, the LG V40 ThinQ has a lot to offer for travelers. Thanks to its deep integration with Google Assistant, including a dedicated Google Assistant button, you can easily translate a menu or figure out what someone is saying to you. With its IP68 rating and MIL-STD 810G certification, it has the highest chance of surviving any environment. And with its focus on videography, you can capture pro-quality video to edit on the plane ride back.
- GSM frequencies (MHz): 850, 900, 1800, 1900
- LTE bands: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 12, 13, 14, 17, 20, 25, 26, 29, 30, 38, 39, 40, 41, 66, 71
With the V40 ThinQ, the benefits start as soon as you leave. As you travel on your vacation or business trip, you can take advantage of the 6.4-inch QHD+ display. This is a POLED panel, but the second iteration and not plagued with the same burn-in issues as the Pixel 2 XL and LG V30. You can storage quite a bit of video for the trip as well thanks to its microSD support. With 1 TB memory cards now an option, you’ll never have to worry about running out of space for your favorite movies or TV shows.
With its 3.5 mm headphone jack, you won’t have to charge a Bluetooth headset. This is also an enhanced headphone jack, thanks to its Quad-DAC, which improves the listening experience as it can drive more powerful headphones. For those looking to watch videos, there is support for DTS:X Virtual Surround Sound, a feature which emulates the effects of a 5.1 surround system using your headphones.
When you reach your destination, Google Assistant is one button away. With one click, you can pull up Google Assistant for directions, information, translation, and much more. Prefer to use your voice? The LG V40 ThinQ includes Super Far-Field Voice Recognition, a technology which allows your phone to detect your voice even in noisy environments up to 16 feet away.
While its super wide-angle and telephoto cameras are impressive, the real star of the show it is video recording ability. The V40 can capture up to 4K at 60 fps. Video can also be captured in HDR10, and the phone includes OIS and EIS support for steady video. There’s a manual mode which gives as much control as a manual mode for photos, letting you adjust your video as if you were using a professional camera. You can even use Point Zoom to have the footage slowly zoom into a specific area of the video to highlight something.
LG V40 ThinQ is an excellent option for traveling thanks to its versatility. With its IP68 rating, it will be able to handle a trip to the ocean or the mountains. Thanks to its military certification, MIL-STD 810G, it can handle the harsh of the environment. While its battery life isn’t the greatest, it does offer fast charging via Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 to get you back up and running in no time. For those going a trip with a long journey, you won’t find many phones that offer a more enjoyable ride.
Google Pixel 3 XL
The gap between first and fourth place is minimal compared to comparisons we’ve done in the past. While other phones on our list offer an overall better package for traveling, the Google Pixel 3 XL isn’t far behind. With the Pixel 3 XL, you will have a class-leading camera, deep integration with Google Assistant, and unlimited Google Photos storage. And all of this is offered at the second cheapest price on our list.
- GSM frequencies (MHz): 850, 900, 1800, 1900
- LTE bands: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 28, 29, 32, 66, 71
The Google Pixel 2 XL had arguably the best smartphone camera at the time of its release, and its successor continues this tradition. According to DxoMark, it has the highest photo score for any single lens camera (tied with the Apple iPhone XR). Unlike the other phones on our list, it uses a single lens to provide all the same features, including portrait mode. Features such as Top Shot and Night Sight help it stand out among the crowd, with the former choosing the best of a series of photos using machine learning and the latter illuminating even the darkest of pictures. Even with its lack of a telephoto lens, it still manages to provide you quality zoom thanks to Super Res Zoom.
New to the Pixel lineup is the addition of a second front-facing camera. This second camera is wider, allowing you to include even more of your friends in the photo without having to position them awkwardly. While the video is limited to 1080p at 30 fps on these cameras, it still manages to achieve a reasonably high score of 83 from DxOMark thanks to its low noise level and accurate face exposure.
Speaking of video, according to DxOMark, this is the best performing video camera on a smartphone with a score of 98. With its effective motion stabilization, HDR, and excellent noise reduction, the Pixel 3 XL can outperform smartphones with two or even three cameras.
With this being a Google-developed phone, it comes with most of the Google-developed apps, including Google Assistant and Google Translate. One of the best features for international travelers is Google’s Interpreter Mode. This feature, which you can pull up using Google Assistant, let you conduct a real-time conversation with someone else who is speaking a different language. There is also Google Lens integration in both Google Assistant and the camera, which lets you translate anything in your viewfinder including streets, store names, menus, and much more.
If you get this phone on Google Fi, Google’s MVNO service, you can enjoy one of the best international plan rates of any US carrier. Unlike the major carriers, Google Fi let you use more than 0.5 GB of high-speed data for free while in 200+ supported countries, paying the same as you would in the US. Text messages are unlimited, and voice calls are $0.20 per minute, but you can use Wi-Fi calling for free. While this same plan is available on other devices, the Pixel 3 XL is one of only a few Fi-certified phones, ensuring you have no issues.
So why is such a great phone listed fourth on our list? For one, its storage is limited. Internal storage is limited to 128 GB (lowest on our list) without the ability to expand via microSD card. Even with all the advances of Super Res Zoom, the lack of any optical zoom does hurt the camera’s capabilities, as optical zoom is essentially lossless while Super Res Zoom is trying to compensate for the degrading found in digital zoom. And finally, battery life isn’t the greatest. Despite having the third largest battery, it has the second lowest battery life.
Despite its shortcoming, the Google Pixel 3 XL is an excellent choice for travelers. With adequate Wi-Fi, you can take advantage of unlimited full-quality Google Photos storage to work around the low internal storage. It takes some of the best pictures of any of the phones on our list with only one lens, and it’s the second cheapest phone on our list. And its deep Google Assistant integration makes it perfect for international travels, as it can act as your interpreter for supported languages.
Apple iPhone XS Max
We couldn’t make a list without including the latest and greatest from Apple. With the iPhone XS Max, its inclusion has less to do with the power of the phone and its amazing display and more to do with its support for dual SIM, making it perfect for international travelers. Combine this with its support for QZSS, the GPS navigation system in the Asia-Oceania region, the iPhone XS Max is an excellent choice for those not wishing to switch to Team Android.
- GSM frequencies (MHz): 850, 900, 1800, 1900
- LTE bands: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 29, 30, 32, 34, 38, 39, 40, 41, 66, 71
The iPhone XS Max has the second highest LTE band support at 26, only behind the OnePlus 6T. While the iPhone does have one band not supported by the 6T (Band 14), it lacks support for bands 28 and 46. However, with so many frequencies, traveling to different countries and regions is easier, as you can be sure to not only have support for LTE but strong signal.
For your travels, the iPhone XS Max has the largest display available on our list at 6.5 inches. Such a large screen will help you when using the GPS to navigate to an area, and flight attendants can easily scan your electronic boarding pass. Once you’re on the plane, you can be sure you will have more than enough battery to watch a few downloaded movies on Netflix or listen to music, as Apple’s iPhone has the second highest battery life.
Once you arrive at your destination, you will want to start capturing the memories, and there are few cameras better than the array on the XS Max. On the rear are two 12 MP cameras, one wide-angle and one telephoto. This combination provides up to 2x optical zoom and 10x digital zoom, allowing you to get that far away shot without needing to move up. This camera managed high marks in DxOMark’s testing, receiving a 110 photo rating and 96 video rating.
On the front, there’s a single 7 MP camera enhanced by Apple’s TrueDepth sensors. These sensors can track your face thoroughly, improving the quality of filters for those Snapchat videos you just have to take while on vacation. And thanks to the security of Face ID — which has a lower false positive rate than any fingerprint scanner — you can be sure that you and only you will be able to unlock your phone. This even includes while you sleep, as the biometrics require your eyes to be open.
This year, Apple introduced dual SIM functionality. This makes it one of only a handful of US phones which include the feature and one of only two on our list. However, unlike the OnePlus 6T, the second SIM is an eSIM. While this version of a SIM card is the future, not every carrier supports it, which can make finding an international carrier a bit of a problem. If you want to use this feature, we recommend using your primary (US) carrier with the eSIM to avoid this.
Additionally, the dual SIM capability comes with some caveats. For example, the phone has to be GSM unlocked in order for you to use SIM cards from two different carriers, a must for international travelers. Second, if you are using a CDMA carrier (Verizon, Sprint, or US Cellular) on one SIM slot, the second slot won’t support CDMA, leaving you either with only GSM carriers or LTE-only plan on the second SIM. While neither limitation is a dealbreaker, these problems don’t exist on most Android-based dual SIM phones.
The biggest issues with the Apple iPhone XS Max are the price and the difficulty of enabling an always-on VPN. At a starting price of $1,099, it is easily the most expensive phone on our list, nearly 100 dollars more than the more recent Samsung Galaxy S10+. This makes it a hard buy for some looking to purchase a phone for traveling, where theft, loss, and damage are bigger risks. Fortunately, if you don’t mind giving up the 6.5-inch screen, you can opt for its little brother, the iPhone XS, which has a 5.8-inch di
Conclusion
The differences between each phone on our list are minor when it comes to enhancing your travels. While features such as dual SIM are limited to only two devices, you can always choose to buy the international version for the capability (but you will more than likely lose any manufacturer’s warranty). Each phone is well protected against drops and spills, has extensive LTE reception, shoots amazing photos and videos, and brings something to the table to justify its inclusion.
Ultimately, we ended up choosing the Samsung Galaxy S10+ because not only is it a powerhouse of a phone, but it’s amazing for travels. At its entry price of $999.99, you can get a phone with 8 GB RAM and 128 GB storage with support for microSD cards. But for $600 more, you can upgrade to 12 GB RAM and 1 TB storage for not only a fast phone, but one you will hardly ever need to erase a photo on (especially since you can always increase its storage with a microSD card). You also get a slightly better anti-theft protection with Find My Mobile, fantastic battery life, and the ability to charge other devices wirelessly.
splay but virtually all the same specs.
However, the limitation of the VPN is a limitation of its operating system, iOS, and can not be changed. While you can use a VPN app normally by using the app to connect to its server, you won’t be able to automatically have your iPhone connect to the VPN servers every time you connect to the web. This feature is known as Always-On VPN, and while it can be enabled on the iPhone XS Max, it requires you to turn on Supervised Mode, which isn’t the easiest thing to do. But, if you can remember to always turn on the VPN and to watch out for the occasional drops, you can be protected abroad when using Wi-Fi at the hotel and the airport.
For those who love Apple, upgrading to the latest and greatest will improve your travels. With Face ID, dual SIM, and its strong LTE support, you can bring your iPhone wherever you go and not only be able to use it, but be protected when doing so. Ultimately, there are better options on the other side of the mobile pond which all include their fast charger in the box, but for those that don’t mind the high price tag, this is the best choice offered by Apple, and a worthy entry on our list.








